Use of Complementary Medicine in Abha City, Saudi Arabia
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- Category: Vol. 84, December 2016
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Use of Complementary Medicine in Abha City, Saudi Arabia, SAAD D. AL-MAZARIGEH, HUSSEIN M.A. ASSIRI, ALI M.A. MOSHIBAH, SAEED M.M. AL-QAHTANI, IBRAHIM A.M. ASSIRI, MOHAMMED M. AL-QAHTANI, SULTAN A.M. ASIRI, SALEH A.M. AL-SAGTI, ALI A.M. AL-SHAREEF, LAMEES Y.S. AYEDH, ABDULAZIZ Y.S. AYEDH, ALMAHA A.S. AL-SHEHRI, MONA Y.D. AL-QARNE, SALMAN J.F. AL-MALKI, AHMAD M.S. AL-SALLAMI, ABDULLAH H.A. AL-ASMRI, MOFARAH A.H. AL-SHEHRI, ISMAIL M. OTAYN, MOHAMMAD A.M. AL-GOZI and OSSAMA A. MOSTAFA
Abstract
Aim of Study: To explore the magnitude, patterns, deter-minants and outcome of using Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in Abha City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Subjects and Methods: A total of 1500 participants (823 males and 677 females) were interviewed. A study question-naire was designed to collect data from the study settings during July-August 2016.
Results: Almost one fourth of participants (24%) used some forms of CAM within the past 12 months. Herbs con-stituted the main received CAM product (41.4%), followed by cautery (27.6%) and Quranic recitations (25.6%). Most users of CAM products repeated using them more than once (53.8%). The main indications for use of CAM were chronic pain (34.9%), neuropsychiatric symptoms (29.9%), chronic diseases (26.8%), sexual (21.7%) or supernatural (17.2%). The main reasons for using CAM were being dissatisfied with the approach of health care providers (28.5%), long waiting times at health facilities (27.9%) or with prescribed medical treatment at a health facility (23.1%) and CAM products being easily obtained (21.7%). None of participants discussed using CAM products with their physician. Participants' complaints improved among 41.4% of participants. More than half of participants (57.5%) were satisfied with using CAM. Married participants were significantly more users of CAM than non-married participants (27.7% and 20.4%, respectively, p=0.001). Less educated participants were significantly the most users of CAM (p<0.001).
Conclusions: Use of CAM by the public in Abha City is high. Herbalists, cautery practitioners and religious persons are the most commonly providers for CAM. The main indica-tions for using CAM are chronic pain, neuropsychiatric symptoms, chronic diseases, sexual/infertility-related complaints and supernatural problems. The main reasons for preferring CAM are dissatisfaction with the conventional health care system, long waiting time or dissatisfaction with prescribed medications. Patients and physicians never discuss the subject of CAM with each other. Most patients are satisfied with using CAM. The use of CAM is accompanied by im-provement in many patients.
Recommendations: Health care providers should apply better communication skills with their patients. Waiting times should be minimized. Physicians should be informed and involved as regard any CAM used by their patients and should educate their patients on how to avoid the possible harm of some CAM modalities.